Margot Taylor – CAN2016 Public lecture speaker – Canadian Association for Neuroscience

Margot Taylor – CAN2016 Public lecture speaker profile

Presentation title: Probing the autistic brain

Date and Time: Saturday, May 28th from 4pm
Location: Auditorium of the Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning at SickKids

Margot Taylor, PhD
Director of Functional Neuroimaging & Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children
Senior Scientist – Neurosciences & Mental Health
Professor of Medical Imaging, Depts. of Paediatrics and Psychology, University of Toronto

Dr. Taylor studies brain development in children and adolescents, with a focus on functions that rely on the frontal lobe of the brain. These are cognitive functions that develop over the life span, but particularly markedly in childhood through adolescence. They include the brain functions that underlie planning, working memory, inhibition of responses, understanding emotions or the thoughts of others. Dr. Taylor looks at these cognitive skills as they are often deficient in a number of paediatric populations.

Her current studies use advanced brain imaging techniques, such as functional MRI and MEG, as well as structural MRI, to compare the brains of normal children to those of children with autism or that are born very preterm (more than two months early).

These imaging techniques allow her to see how the brain develops in typical vs. atypical (in autism or children born preterm) groups, and where and when different abilities, such as recognition of emotions, working memory and inhibition emerge.